HMS Iron Duke has returned to sea after over five years of absence.
This marks the Type 23 Frigate’s first voyage since an extensive refurbishment was carried out, involving over 1.7 million hours of diligent work by a dedicated team of shipwrights, engineers, technicians, and experts, both from civilian ranks and the Royal Navy.
The crew of the Duke, fondly referred to as the “Iron Duck,” relocated on board in November last year, teaming up with Babcock engineers to execute the final stages of her revamp.
The frigate has undergone a more intricate overhaul than any other Type 23 in the fleet, including significant structural work on the hull. This refurbishment is a part of the life extension (LIFEX) programme conducted in Devonport.
The work carried out will ensure that the mainstays of the Fleet, conceived in the 1970s and early 80s and initially intended to serve for 20 years, remain at the cutting edge of naval operations. This will persist until their successors, the Type 26s and 31s frigates, start entering service later in the decade.
Key electronic equipment such as communications, navigation and weapon systems have been modernised to counter the latest threats. Similarly, machinery and IT systems onboard have been updated, along with the living spaces, to cater to the needs and expectations of 21st Century sailors.
You can read more on this here.
Is it now like Triggers Broom ?
haha
We heard a few years back Iron Duke was in the worst condition of all the T-23s so not surprised the work was more substantial than the others. Indeed it was even questioned whether it was economic to do so, so good that it’s back in service after such original neglect. Always a name I loved can we not have a Black Prince too at some point each harks back to a very different time but one that’s quite glorious too in deep and distant history that’s at the core of the survival and power projection of the Country and… Read more »
‘Black Prince ‘…… Can you imagine the pearl clutching from the usual suspects…?
You do know we are busily trying to establish better relations with Europe these days don’t you.
The French have never forgiven us for putting our Terminus for Eurostar at Waterloo 🤪
Indeed, Iron Duke and Lancaster were mentioned as being the worst of the Type 23’s regarding condition but they have been LIFEXED whereas Monmouth was arguably in a better state but she wasn’t.
Maybe the argument there was it was better to “use up” Monmouth and in that time improve the other vessels so they would be available when it came time to retire her?
Nothing like being taken up to London and round the corner under Lancaster Castle would be
87 011 Black Prince or
87 017 Iron Duke
Hauling MK3s
Fantastic memories.
I trust they will keep the majority of these T23s well beyond the introduction of the T26 & T31. They seem to have worked quite well & have proved useful. Their time will come I’m sure but it looks at the moment like upgrades could well breathe new life into these hulls.
The difficulty will be in finding crew for them. These have comparatively larger crews that T26 or T31. Recruitment could be ramped up but that costs money
That’s before the ongoing running costs of an older ship with older tech are taken into account.
Sadly a non starter. Would be better to add extra new hulls into the fleet I think
I think you are right. It’s cheaper to get more type 31s and 32s into service then keeping a type 23 going. They will be nearly 40 years old when they leave service towards the end of the decade. That’s a long service life for an escort class warship.
Actually I’m not sure I’d go with T32 as currently discussed. Quicker to add a second batch of 5 x T31s (or even T31 x 3 and T26 x 2) than design another class when the T83 needs focus
If I was looking at t32 as a thing I’d look at a through deck design, equipped with UAVs and UUVs for recce, aew and asw
With such an extensive refit, it could make a nice 2nd hand purchase for a foreign navy when the retirement date is looming….or it is gifted to Ukraine, who will need to beef up their navy once the Ivans have been taken care of.
A hull that has done double its design life?
It is a ship from a different era.
Someone will want it for occasional flag waving to boost nominal fleet size.
The Ukranians are good at fixing things do maybe they might want it.
Exactly. Would have been desirable to include PGMU during LIFEX, but don’t believe any of the GP frigates will now receive the upgrade. 🤔
Need to re-evaluate salary bands for all the armed service personnel & peg them to similar private sector roles. In the grand scheme of things that is not that expensive especially now the numbers are lower than decades past.
Whilst I agree that extra hulls would be the better solution that takes time and I can see that we need numbers as I can see us needing hulls in the pacific, middle east and at home in these difficult times.
Some of the crews will come from the two retired T-23’s. Hms Iron Duke’s crew came from Hms Argyll, which is now still in LIFEX for a few more months, so plenty of time to find a crew for her. Retired Monmouth’s crew became the 2nd crew of Montrose’s. So there is now Montrose’s crew available.
Maybe the 5 most recently LIFEX’d will survive until Type 32s are in service, enabling surface fleet expansion sooner rather than later?
I served on leanders, type 21s and type 22s. In my opinion, Leanders were by far the best ships and we’re the workhorses of the fleet
What is/was the life expectancy of a T-23 Frigate?
The expected lifespan of the Type 23 operating in the North Atlantic( pre 1991 estimates ) was 18-19 years,after the end of the Cold War their operating tempo was reduced which is why they have served much longer.
How much do we think total cost was then?
1.7 million man hours must be coming close to £55M in labour and yard/dock running.
I’m going average labour hour of £25 and 30% on top for yard costs . Plus the parts obviously after.
Need GunBuster insight!!
Would guess it’s now good to sell for half that price. Seems the normal approach, major refit and the sell of a year or so later
That’s exactly what they were going to do, except somebody had a brainwave. They actually changed policy and moved the out of service date to the other side of 2027 when they opted for earlier retirements of Monmouth and Montrose.
Does anyone have an to date OOS schedule for the T23’s last one I saw was in 2021 and Iron Duck was due in 2025.
IMHO they should try and conserve the last 3 as much as possible Kent, Portland and St Albans and run them on a bit longer.